Knowing the will of God. Romans 12:1-8

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1 Knowing the will of God Romans 12:1-8 One of the perplexing problems which many Christians struggle to come to grips with is knowing the will of God. When faced with difficult decisions we can agonise over the problem of correctly discerning God's will for us. However, I think much of the problem arises from an inadequate conception of the will of God. There is a strong tendency to see the will of God for our lives as something fixed, with which we must conform, a blueprint or plan which has been mapped out for us in detail. We also tend to see times of decision as isolated events, which have a rather unclear relationship to the direction of our life as a whole. We are also still strongly influenced by the individualistic spirit of the age so that we act as if the decisions we make are of little consequence for others. Not so with Paul. In his letter to the Romans, Paul states quite clearly how we are to know the will of God and what that means for our lives. Firstly, he says that the will of God is good, and acceptable, and perfect. The will of God is good. Many Christians seem to have the idea that God is an ogre who wants to stop them having fun. Consequently anything that we want to do cannot be the will of God, whereas that which we least want to do must be the will of God. This view is false. God does not want to stop us having fun or doing what we want - God wants to restrain us from sin. And it is clearly taught in Scripture, as well as evident in our lives, that sin is not fun. It may have a momentary pleasure but the inevitable evil consequences are out of all proportion to that pleasure. We may not recognise the consequences of sin as evil, but further growth in grace and the knowledge of God brings us to that conclusion eventually. Neither does God want to stop us from doing what we want - unless what we want arises from sinful desires. Augustine understood this when he wrote "Love God and do Chris Gousmett

2 as you please." The more we love God the more what we want to do will be the will of God. We need not struggle to do the will of God by battling our sinful natures. We need only to seek to live for God, and by the Spirit our sinful natures will be transformed. Christ has already accomplished the victory over sin, and we must allow the Holy Spirit to work that victory in us. The will of God is acceptable - it is pleasing to those who want to do God's will. God is not an ogre - his will for us is able to be accepted without anguish by those who love him. God will not seek to stifle us and prevent us from following the true desires of our hearts, but rather seeks to guide and empower them by the Holy Spirit. If we truly want to serve God his will for us will be acceptable in every way. The will of God is perfect - it is mature, well-considered and appropriate for us. God does not make mistakes. He does not want us to do things which do not suit our personality, our ability or our disposition, providing that we love him and are willing to allow him to root out the sin and rebellion in our lives which alienates us from God. So the will of God for us is not something to fear, or to resist, but is to be accepted and entered into with joy as the most fulfilling activity best suited for our special personalities. How then do we know what the will of God is for us? There are several important principles to learn if we are to correctly discern the will of God. Firstly: God has his intentions for the whole of creation. Everything that exists has been brought into being by God with love and care and purpose. There are no accidents in creation - nothing which should not be there - apart of course from the corrupting power of sin - and that this power has been broken and is being removed through the death of the Son of God. But in spite of the entrance of sin as an alien power into God's good creation, those purposes of God for the creation have not been abandoned. God still intends for the creation to come to its full development so as to reveal his glory. Secondly: God has created humankind with a specific task and calling. There is an overall will of God which provides the context and meaning of human existence. We Chris Gousmett

3 were created to serve as the stewards of God, to act as his representatives to the rest of creation. That is what it means to be created as the image of God - to stand in for him as it were in governing and directing the creation to its full glory. To do this we must use the abilities which God gave us for this purpose, to develop the creation in a stewardly way and to discover the riches which it contains. Whether we like it or not that is the will of God. His gifts to us and all we have is what our life relies upon. That is his will, even if, by and large, our lives may give evidence of wanting to base ourselves in rebellion and sin. For all that, the purposes of God are slowly being fulfilled as we stumble along in ignorance and pride, slowly learning for ourselves what God has already made clear to us - that sin and rebellion act against our best interests, and in fact hinder us from achieving a full and satisfying life. But God overrules and even out of our rebellion draws forth the results he desires. Thirdly: God has created each one of us with special abilities and aptitudes and these in special combinations. We frequently hear disparaging comments about "natural abilities" especially in charismatic circles where these are compared unfavourably with "spiritual gifts." However, there is no distinction in Scripture between natural abilities and spiritual gifts. All our abilities come from God and are his special creation in us. There is no truth in the distinction we are prone to make between the natural and the spiritual, as if these were opposed to each other, when what we are referring to are different ways God has gifted us. There is a distinction in Scripture between the spiritual and the natural, but there it refers to the opposition between the power of the Spirit working in us, and the sinful desires of the unregenerate heart. There is nothing intrinsic to human nature which is alien to God and the work of the Spirit. Sin falls outside God's intentions for creation and is alien to us, but our abilities are all Godgiven and to be used in his service. The Holy Spirit does not switch off after we leave the church, but will continue to enlighten and empower us to serve God faithfully in everything that we do. God has given each of us these abilities and has called us to discover and use them. We are as Paul says, not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, but to think with sober judgement. We are to assess our abilities in the light of our past experience and our predispositions. God has created us and calls us to discover and discern the abilities with which we have been gifted. Our predispositions to do one thing rather Chris Gousmett

4 than another forms part of the way the Spirit of God is calling us to discover these gifts. Fourthly: The will of God is for us to use the abilities he has gifted us with. He has not given these abilities to lie dormant or idle. If we do not use them we will be called to account for despising his gifts to us. Nor are we to misuse them in the pursuit of sin and rebellion against God. We are called to develop our abilities and understand them in the light of the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in renewing and empowering us. Fifthly: The will of God for us will be good, and acceptable and perfect, as it will be compatible with our abilities and predispositions which God himself gave us. He has prepared us to carry out his will from before birth by giving us what we need. God does not suppress the abilities which He has given us. Nor does he call us to do that for which we have no ability or liking, providing of course that we love him and wish to do his will. We will not like the will of God for us if we are pursuing sinful desires or rebelling against God. Sixthly: The will of God for us is to develop as a community. Paul ties in his discussion of the will of God with the life of the Christian community, using his image of the body. As many members of the one body, all our abilities and unique callings will merge in together to form a strong and healthy church. Seeking the will of God without considering how that forms part of the ministry of the whole body of Christ is running counter to the will of God, and can lead only to delusion and despair. Further than that, it will weaken the church by depriving it of the contribution you are needed to make. Conversely, the Christian community, especially its leaders, has an obligation to discern the abilities and callings of its members, and to encourage and support them as they seek to fulfil their calling. So then, how do we know the will of God for our lives? Firstly, it will be to function as a committed member of the body of Christ, participating in the community of believers and contributing where we are needed. Secondly, it will be compatible with our God-given abilities. If we accurately and soberly discern our abilities, we will have a good indication of what God has called us to do. If we are skilled at something, God will not call us to a place where we cannot Chris Gousmett

5 use that ability. God gives us a calling compatible with and in harmony with our abilities. God has not called us to be misfits. Thirdly, the will of God is constant. He will not call us to do one thing today, and then to drop it completely to do something else tomorrow. If we are gifted and skilled at one profession and have been trained at that profession, God will not call us to throw that away in the pursuit of what is mistakenly seen as a more "spiritual" calling. God does not want us to waste his creation, and he himself does not waste what he has made and developed in us. We serve God best by fulfilling the calling he has given us and by using the gifts we were given, not by aspiring to do something for which we are not gifted, suited or trained. As Paul says, So then, having gifts that differ according to the grace given us, let us use them... Many areas of life are weakened because Christians have not used their gifts in those callings but have abandoned them, often under pressure from other Christians, in order to seek the more "spiritual" callings of parish ministry or missionary service or some other such task. But to be spiritual is to be working in the power of the Spirit at that which God has called us to do and given us abilities for, not to do a job which is supposedly more "spiritual." There are no spiritual jobs, or unspiritual jobs; there are only spiritual or unspiritual people, those serving God in the power of the Spirit and those serving the sinful flesh, and through that, serving an idol. So the will of God will be in harmony with our abilities and personalities, and will follow a pattern for our lives, Beware of sudden changes of direction, especially if it involves abandoning previous training and skills. God does not waste his gifts on those he does not want to use them. There are of course many problems in discerning the exact path to take in following the will of God, but I trust that these principles concerning God's will for us all will help to clarify those choices. It is when we make decisions outside of the context of God's calling to all mankind to develop the earth in a stewardly fashion, using the abilities he has given, and apart from his intentions for the body of Christ as a community of people gifted with a rich diversity of callings that we run into trouble. Chris Gousmett

6 Once we have seen the way that God is calling his church, then our place within that corporate task he has given us becomes much clearer and simpler to discern. Chris Gousmett